Healthcare in the U.S. is a mess for a number of reasons. Many are trying to apply their fix. Buried in the healthcare mess is a subject that is rarely discussed. I wrote Botched Healthcare Branding for Mediapost.com.

I’m happy to announce that Lucid Marketing has been acquired by another more-wonderful marketing agency, 8fold Integrated Creative Works in Morristown, N.J. 8fold is run by Jennifer LoBianco, who I’ve known for over a decade, and Brad Leszczynski. They are a pair of dynamic marketers with a strong team and notable client experience.

They saw value in the assets and reputation Lucid created, and made me an offer, as they say, I could not refuse. I’m excited to be handing the reigns over to them. They bring their own experience, new talent and a fresh perspective. The past few months have involved me sharing with them what I’ve learned, Lucid processes and creating a seamless integration.

The timing was serendipitous, as many of you know, I’ve been spending my time on creating WholesomeOne.com.

For the past 15-years I’ve had the honor of working with many wonderful companies and the people employed by them. There were hits & misses, nonetheless we were “in the game” together. I am thankful for that opportunity!

This month I rolled out my new business venture, WholesomeOne.com. The web site helps people find holistic ways to heal from pain and experience good health.

I believe that many people have become distrustful of the pharmaceutical industry. And they are frustrated with the care their typical medical doctor offers. At the same time, they’ve heard about natural options through alternative medicine and holistic health. Figuring out what to try, how and where to start is difficult – until now. WholesomeOne is a Guide to Holistic Health.

It’s currently in a very ‘lean’ state, but over time, features will be added and it’s value improved.

To help be kick-start the site, many friends and family were very generous. I can’t thank them enough, and I want to let you know who they are. They each helped by making a financial contribution that I applied to web site design, programming, mobile technology, legal work, and health content.

After a few meetings with Neil, Greg F, Galen and Pete I came to believe that the idea to match people based on a personality traits collected in an analytical manner would either change the world of how people find their spouse or it would die quickly. Frankly, I had no idea which was more likely.

My task was to recruit happily married couples and ones who divorced, and collect survey data on hundreds of their behavior and personality traits. I built a web-based survey and needed a URL host the survey. I didn’t want to use my marketing company URL as it might influence how people responded. Instead, I decided to try to come up with a new URL and name for the entity. Since it was 1998, many new Internet companies were being named “i” or “e” something.com. For several days, I floated different names around in my head and bounced them off my wife. There were a few that I liked, but none nearly as much as the one that came to me while driving past a local children’s pre-school. That school was named, The Harmony School, and at that instant, I felt I had a name that could last as a brand and represented the long term mission as I understood it. Today, thanks to the great work by the people who run the company, the name seems to resonate with people and have staying power.

Years later, I heard that when the business was really starting to take off, management felt it was time to establish the ‘big boy’ name for the company. A branding consultancy was hired. People were brought into focus group rooms and new names were tested out on them. The results came back, and it wasn’t even close, their unequivocal favorite was eHarmony.com.

I find Zuckerberg to be a bit of an odd duck (although brilliant one), but this quote of his resonates, “There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.”

I had the fortune of being interviewed & quoted for this story Mashable.com story, “7 Tips for Marketing to Moms” where I talk about a Hallmark television ad, Tinyprints marketing campaign, mom stereotypes, Facebook, Klout, and social media influence.